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D.C. Buzz: What did state Dems get for backing Pelosi?

Dan Freedman (seated center, left) was part of a team of Hearst journalists who interviewed President George HW Bush in 1992.

Dan Freedman (seated center, left) was part of a team of Hearst journalists who interviewed President George HW Bush in 1992.

Photo: The White House / Contributed Photo

Photo: The White House / Contributed Photo

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Dan Freedman (seated center, left) was part of a team of Hearst journalists who interviewed President George HW Bush in 1992.

Dan Freedman (seated center, left) was part of a team of Hearst journalists who interviewed President George HW Bush in 1992.

Photo: The White House / Contributed Photo

D.C. Buzz: What did state Dems get for backing Pelosi?

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There was more than a lilt of Tammany Hall-style sausage making last week when news reports focused on wannabe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dangling “concessions” and “sweeteners” before recalcitrant Democrats to win their support.

And at about the same time, two of those holdouts — Rep. Jim Himes and Rep.-elect Jahana Hayes — announced they would vote for Pelosi after all.

This begs the questions: What did they get for their commitments? Are happy days here again because Santa Nancy will bestow a cornucopia of gifts on Connecticut’s 4th and 5th Congressional Districts?

“I didn’t horse-trade with Nancy Pelosi,” Himes answered Tuesday, when I asked him straight up. “The 4th Congressional District will get goodies, but they will come about as a result of regular order.”

“Regular order” is Capitol-speak for the normal, yawn-inducing appropriations process. And even though Pelosi is likely to be queen of the new House Democratic majority, she cannot just snap her finger and, boom, a new railroad bridge appears across the Saugatuck River.

But the controversial 78-year-old Californian, who still faces headwinds on her path to the speakership, can dole out coveted intangibles — things like committee assignments, or policy priorities on the House floor, or getting that all-nebulous “seat at the table.”

Himes said his only interaction with Pelosi was as chair of the New Democrat Coalition, the centrist-Dem House alliance that had Pelosi over for a sit-down.

So no big announcements on federally funded projects for now. But if you see federal money suddenly arising for a new Congress Street Bridge in Bridgeport, you’ll know how those wheels got greased. (Oh, wait, the Connecticut State Bond Commission is set to approve $3.7 million for the new Congress Street Bridge, according to state Sen. Marilyn Moore!)

As for Hayes, my colleague Emilie Munson learned from her spokesman that the former teacher of the year’s big ask from Pelosi was a seat on the House Education & the Workforce Committee. No word yet on whether she got it.

A civil president

The funeral of President George H.W. Bush was a somber moment for the nation. And, of course, Greenwich and environs felt the loss of their native son as acutely as any region in the country.

For me, the funeral cortege winding its way through Washington and the military detail that carried his coffin in and out of the National Cathedral brought back a memory of my own brief interaction with the 41st president of the United States.

As a young reporter at the Hearst Newspapers Washington Bureau in 1992, I was part of a three-person team that got to interview Bush in the Oval Office just prior to a Drug Summit in San Antonio (where we had a newspaper).

The “Drug War” was certainly a big story at the time, with much of the focus on corruption and collusion within the Mexican government. Doubtless we asked earnest questions on that topic and looked for answers around which we could build a news story.

But I’d be lying if I said the grandeur of the moment was far from our minds. My Hearst colleague Jeff Cohen, who later became editor of the Houston Chronicle, said he thought of stealing an ashtray but then decided to back off.

Our time with the president was limited. When the clock ticked down to zero, a voice sounded out “thank you, Mr. President” as I was in the middle of a question. President Bush certainly could have gotten up, said “thanks” and walked out of the room. But that wasn’t his way.

“Go ahead and ask the question” he said, motioning to me as we all slowly got up out of our seats. I don’t remember what the question was, but I got an unhurried and detailed response from the president.

And that is how he is being remembered. Friendly, thoughtful, patient and, yes, prudent. (Thank you very much, Dana Carvey!) Whatever your political persuasion or party preference, one can only hope that someday we can return to the “kinder, gentler” way of conducting the nation’s business that George H.W. Bush exemplified so well.